Robert Todd Lincoln

Robert Todd Lincoln, (born Aug. 1, 1843, Springfield, Ill., U.S.—died July 26, 1926, Manchester, Vt.), eldest and sole surviving child of Abraham Lincoln, who became a millionaire corporation attorney and served as U.S. secretary of war and minister to Great Britain during Republican administrations.

Raised in Springfield, Ill., as his father rose from local to national prominence, Lincoln later attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard, graduating from the latter in 1864. He attended Harvard Law School for four months but left when commissioned a captain in the U.S. Army and assigned to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s staff.

Following Robert E. Lee’s surrender and his father’s assassination, Lincoln completed his legal education in Chicago and in 1867 was admitted to the bar. His practice prospered as he obtained major railroads and corporations as clients.

In 1881 Lincoln joined James A. Garfield’s administration as secretary of war and remained at that cabinet post under Chester A. Arthur until 1885. He then returned to private law practice in Chicago until Pres. Benjamin Harrison appointed him minister to Britain in 1889. Both periods of public service were largely uneventful.

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He was back at his law practice in 1893, serving, among other notable corporations, the Pullman Company. When George Pullman died in 1897, Lincoln ran the company, first as acting executive and later as president. He retired in 1911 but remained chairman of the board at Pullman as well as director of several other Chicago-based corporations and financial institutions. Near the end of his life he deposited his father’s papers in the Library of Congress with the stipulation that they remain sealed for 21 years after his death.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen, Corrections Manager.

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